Label:
Boobytrap
Release Date:
20/02/2006

Every once in a while something special emerges from out of the blue and hits you straight between the eyes like a tornado tearing through a skyscraper. Step forward Cardiff based four piece Attack + Defend, the demolition man's wet dream.

Even with a buzz around them that's gaining more momentum than the start of a honey bee's swarming season, Attack + Defend can't really afford to sit back on their laurels and be swept along on a tidal wave of hope, hype and expectation. And so they haven't...

Instead, the 'Owl EP' exceeds any kind of expectation for a debut release, and if anything, raises the bar somewhat for other artists in the future, as any one of the five songs here could stand alone as an a-side to be reckoned with in its own right.

Lead track 'More' is a Super Furries-meets-The Futureheads quirk rock opus that simply demands attention, as keyboards twist and whirl around Mark Thomas' lyrical observations like The Beta Band on waltzing Matilda's hyperdrive. Things can't - shouldn't - possibly get better. But they do, as the country folk of 'Don't Play With Gypsies In The Wood' with its "I grew up in a land where no one listens..." refrain ringing around your head like a repetitive engine blends into the punk skiffle of '24 Hour City', which basically out-Corals the Merseyside six.

'Posh It Up' is good time punk that would better befit the scenario of a 1920s music hall than the spit drenched confines of The Marquee, while the closing 'Dreamfit' begins with the haunting sound of an owl and treads the well worn path of Beefheart if they'd grown up on cheap white cider and bad hash.